Super FM

/ What it does

Super FM is the web radio station for Keerbergen and the surrounding area. Visitors listen live 24/7 to today’s hits and classics from the 60s, 70s and 80s, see who is behind the controls and what is on when, and request songs themselves.

• A live audio player that keeps playing while you browse the site.
• A programme guide (“what’s on when”) and an introduction to the presenters.
• A song request form listeners use to request a track, with an invisible anti-spam field.
• News, an advertising page for local businesses, and contact details with address, Google Maps and the live weather for Keerbergen (via the open-meteo API).
• An installable app (PWA): “Open app” puts Super FM as an icon on your phone and plays the stream like a real radio app.

/ Why this approach

• Super FM is a local volunteer radio station. So the site has to be maintainable without a developer: they edit the texts, programmes, news and presenters themselves.
• That is why the design was delivered as a WordPress theme. The volunteers manage the content in the familiar WordPress environment; the design stays intact.
• The radio station hosts and manages everything itself, under its own domain name. Full ownership, no vendor lock-in, no monthly commitment.
• As a local, non-commercial initiative, Super FM received a reference rate instead of the regular bespoke rate.

/ How it was built: the WordPress port

The site and the app were first built by hand (HTML, CSS and JavaScript, no page builder) and then ported to an installable WordPress theme. That way the speed and craftsmanship of a hand-built site are kept, while everything runs on standard WordPress hosting that the client manages themselves.

• The hand-built design was converted to the WordPress theme structure (template files, functions.php, editable content), delivered as one installable theme with a manual.
• The live stream player keeps playing while navigating; the programme guide and song requests run inside the theme.
• External integrations: audio stream, Google Maps, open-meteo (live weather) and links to radio portals.
• Alongside the website, an installable web app (PWA) with its own icon and offline shell.
• After delivery, the client is responsible for hosting, SSL, backups and updates of WordPress, PHP and plugins; the theme is delivered “as is” with a manual.
• The underlying, generic code remains Othala’s; the client receives a licence to use it for its own radio activities.